I recently signed up for Great Education Colorado’s Advocacy Day at the capitol to talk to my legislators about public education funding in my district. Even though I have been involved, on and off, for years with education funding issues, I was pretty nervous about actually going to the capitol, pulling my Senator and Representative off the floor and talking directly with them about these matters.

It turns out my fears were entirely unfounded. Not only did I not need to be nervous, I actually had a lot of fun. After all, I’m not a lobbyist who they see all the time (and may be tired of), I am a constituent. It is their job to meet me and listen to what I have to say. Also, Sue Catterall from Great Ed was there to guide me every step of the way. It turns out, my Representative immediately signed the reinvestment statement letter I put in front of her. Great Education had sent it to her already, but she actually signed it when I was standing there in front of her. Getting her signature made my trip to the statehouse even more worthwhile.

You should try it too. Not only is it rewarding to meet and engage directly with your elected representatives, it is really fun to walk the halls of our stunning state capitol, observe the energy and frenetic activity that goes on when the legislature is in session, and, best of all, to participate directly in our democracy.

Because of TABOR, Colorado is currently on “automatic pilot.” Without action, the state will return tax dollars when we could be paying back the $1000 per pupil debt we owe to our students. That means it’s not enough to want Colorado to choose “B.” To help put Colorado back on track, we all need to step up and tell Governor Hickenlooper and every state legislator that we expect them to do whatever it takes to do right by Colorado students.

Cutting schools during a recession is one thing. Cutting them when employment, income and revenues are growing is just wrong.

Please take just 30 seconds to sign the petition and then to give your friends and colleagues the chance to do the same. It doesn’t take long, but it will make a difference that will last.

Thanks for all you do for Colorado’s students, classrooms and schools!

P.S. If you haven’t seen the adorable video below proving it’s better to invest than receive, you must! Watch and share!

]]>http://www.greateducation.org/news/2015/02/gut-check/feed/1Announcing a new initiative from Great Education Coloradohttp://www.greateducation.org/news/greated/2015/02/announcing-initiative-great-education-colorado/
http://www.greateducation.org/news/greated/2015/02/announcing-initiative-great-education-colorado/#commentsTue, 10 Feb 2015 05:13:47 +0000http://www.greateducation.org/?p=4810Access to a quality education is the civil rights movement of our time. Currently, Colorado is in the bottom 10 percent in the nation regarding per capita spending on education and has not provided children of color with the resources they need to graduate and enter college or the workforce. We can and must do better.

For over a decade, Great Education Colorado has been working with public education supporters like you toward a vision — a Colorado where every student graduates ready for the world.

To achieve that goal, we know that all Colorado children — regardless of their background, where they live or how they learn — must have the opportunity to attend excellent schools with great, well-supported teachers. That means providing every child the supports and educational opportunities necessary to overcome challenges and succeed.

Denver Metro Catalyst for Kids is a new Great Ed initiative under the direction of Maisha Fields-Pollard that will bring people together to make that vision a reality, especially for metro-area communities of color.

We invite you to be a part of this critical effort. The first step is to “like” the Catalyst for Kids Facebook page and to invite your friends, family, and colleagues to connect to the conversation, as well. This page will be our way to keep you engaged in the conversation about what is happening in your schools.

Think of this page as a resource, a sounding board, a forum for constructive conversation. You’ll find thought-provoking articles, opportunities for action, and invitations to townhalls and discussions.

The Catalyst for Kids initiative and Facebook page is for anyone who is interested and invested in today’s children and tomorrow’s future. We hope you will join us for this journey of learning and acting together to ensure a bright future for every Colorado student.

Use the button below to Like Denver Metro Catalyst for Kids on Facebook

]]>http://www.greateducation.org/news/greated/2015/02/announcing-initiative-great-education-colorado/feed/0Credit Where Credit is Duehttp://www.greateducation.org/news/2015/01/credit-credit-due/
http://www.greateducation.org/news/2015/01/credit-credit-due/#commentsThu, 08 Jan 2015 17:19:04 +0000http://www.greateducation.org/?p=4739After just the first day of Colorado’s legislative season, there’s no point in trying to predict if this will be a good year for Colorado’s students. There’s no way to know right now if the legislature will make investment in teaching and in our classrooms a high priority.

But we can give credit where credit is due to a number of policymakers who took the opportunity of “Opening Day” to make a strong statement about reversing the cuts that our students have endured over the past several years. Here’s the honor roll. We hope you’ll choose one (or more) to send a quick thank you email.

Senator Andy Kerr introduced Senate Bill 15-033 to ask the voters to allow the state to retain revenues in excess of the TABOR limit to spend on preschool and K-12 education. Unfortunately, the bill has been assigned to a committee that is expected to kill it immediately. Senator Kerr deserves praise and thanks for trying to give voters the chance to do right by kids.Thank him at SenatorAndyKerr@gmail.com or on Twitter at @SenAndyKerr

Senator Jon Becker introduced House Bill 15-058 to require excess revenue that comes in beyond what the legislature budgets to be deposited into the State Education Fund (70%) and a new Higher Education Fund (30%). This policy is similar to the “Surplus for Kids” amendment that Great Ed promoted last year. “Schools saw their funding reduced year after year during the recession and the burden was placed on them to provide a quality education with fewer resources. Now that the economy is beginning to improve we can begin to restore Colorado schools’ budgets and ensure they receive the resources that they sacrificed during economic hardship.” Thank him at jon.becker.house@state.co.us
In his opening day speech, House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso acknowledged that “the recession forced our education system to endure significant budget cuts” and “call[ed] for more on-going funding to reduce the negative factor instead of one-time dollars.” Thank him at brian@bdelgrosso.com or on Twitter at @RepDelGrosso

Likewise, Speaker of the House Dickey Lee Hullinghorst called on her fellow legislators “to increase our investment in the most indispensable ingredient of our state’s future — the next generation of Coloradans.” Thank her at dl.hullinghorst.house@state.co.us

Finally, Senate President Bill Cadman made a commitment to “reasonable, sustainable [K-12] funding increases.” Thank him at bill.cadman.senate@state.co.us

119 more days to go in the session. Stay tuned for easy and quick ways to let your legislators know you expect them to make education a priority.

]]>http://www.greateducation.org/news/2015/01/credit-credit-due/feed/1Help us understand the challenges to effective organizing and advocacyhttp://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/12/understand-challenges-effective-organizing-advocacy/
http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/12/understand-challenges-effective-organizing-advocacy/#commentsMon, 15 Dec 2014 21:18:37 +0000http://www.greateducation.org/?p=4731Close your eyes and picture a classroom that meets your vision of what the students in your life and your community need and deserve.

What did you see? A manageable number of kids in the room? Teachers with support and time? A fully equipped, safe lab? Other improvements your district can’t afford?

Chances are, no matter what you pictured, it would take a decision by some elected officials or by the voters to make it happen. That’s the reality: Improving education generally requires advocacy to someone — usually by a whole lot of people acting together.

We know that’s not always easy. Lots of obstacles can get in the way. That’s why, to make sure that our organizing work and our Conference are as helpful and relevant as possible, we’ve created a surveyso you can tell us what you think are the greatest challenges to effective organizing and advocacy. (Please take the survey whether or not you plan to attend the conference.)

Is it:

Lack of time?

Angst about talking “politics”?

Feeling like you need all the answers before you begin a conversation?

Feeling like a Lone Ranger?

Whatever it is, we want to help make advocacy more fun, comfortable and accessible — or Colorado will never be able to realize your vision of a great classroom.

With so much happening in education and school funding, the time to build a network of individuals and community teams is now. We hope you’ll take our survey to help us identify the obstacles, so that we can discuss and address them together on January 30 at the Conference.

]]>http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/12/understand-challenges-effective-organizing-advocacy/feed/0Great Education Colorado celebrates Dr. Donna Lynne and Dr. Cindy Stevenson at 2014 Luncheonhttp://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/10/great-education-colorado-honors-dr-donna-lynne-2014-luncheon/
http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/10/great-education-colorado-honors-dr-donna-lynne-2014-luncheon/#commentsFri, 03 Oct 2014 16:36:26 +0000http://www.greateducation.org/?p=4681At the 4th Annual Great Education Colorado Luncheon on October 2, 2014, Great Ed honored Dr. Donna Lynne, President of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado and presented Dr. Cindy Stevenson with the Vicki A. Mattox Award for Excellence in Education. Scroll down to see a video about Dr. Lynne and Great Education Colorado.

Our thanks to all who attended and donated so generously to make Great Ed’s work — Grassroots Powering Education — possible.

With a deep understanding of the connections between quality education, personal health, strong communities and a vital workforce, Dr. Lynne has dedicated her time, passion, energy and expertise for the benefit of Colorado’s students. Through her leadership in education organizations including the Colorado Legacy Foundation, the Denver Public Schools Foundation, Colorado Succeeds, Teach for America-Colorado, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and the Denver Education Compact, she has expanded educational opportunities and brightened the future for thousands of students in Denver and throughout Colorado.

A graduate herself of Jefferson County Schools, Dr. Stevenson has dedicated her career to the students of Jeffco as a teacher, administrator and, ultimately, as the state- and nationally-recognized superintendent of her district. Always prioritizing student success by promoting the teaching profession, engaging the parent and business communities, and leading by example, Dr. Stevenson’s career exemplifies the kind of educational excellence and dedication that Vicki Mattox strived to make possible through her own work and civic involvement.

]]>http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/10/great-education-colorado-honors-dr-donna-lynne-2014-luncheon/feed/0What do we owe our children?http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/07/owe-children/
http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/07/owe-children/#commentsWed, 09 Jul 2014 17:49:02 +0000http://www.greateducation.org/?p=4503It’s a question of legacy and priorities, about hopes, dreams and responsibility.

What do we owe our children?

It’s a question that could spark a long, interesting conversation among parents, students, citizens, and policymakers.

But here in Colorado, this isn’t a theoretical question. In Colorado, there is one particular, concrete debt that we literally owe Colorado’s children.

In 2000, when we passed Amendment 23, Colorado voters made a promise in the constitution to increase our investment in Colorado’s kids — in good times and bad. We haven’t kept that promise since 2009 — and we now owe our kids a debt of $900 million, every year.

The cost of not keeping that promise can be measured in larger class sizes, lost individual attention, narrower curriculum, ancient technology and shorter school days, weeks and years. That’s why we owe it to our children — morally and legally — to make good on that promise.

We wanted you to know that, late last month, a group of parents, districts and organizations sued the State of Colorado to make good on our promise. The case is called Dwyer v. State of Colorado, but we think it’s more descriptive to call it the “Keep the Promise” lawsuit. You can learn more about the lawsuit here.

If you’d like to be kept informed about new developments in the case, please sign up here, and we’ll let you know about the state’s response, the court’s calendar, and any new arguments and decisions as the case winds its way through the judicial process.

Going to court to enforce the Amendment 23 promise is an important milestone in the movement to improve Colorado’s investment in our kids. However, it does not replace or even diminish the importance of keeping pressure on our legislators to do their best each year to invest the resources necessary to provide all students with strong schools, effective leaders, expansive educational opportunities and highly trained teachers.

Here’s our promise: we’ll keep providing you with effective ways to keep the pressure on state leaders. We owe that to our kids, too.

]]>http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/07/owe-children/feed/0Session review: A good year to build onhttp://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/05/session-review-good-year-build/
http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/05/session-review-good-year-build/#commentsWed, 14 May 2014 17:11:35 +0000http://www.greateducation.org/?p=4477The 2014 legislative session ended last week and we were left with this question:

What do you call a session where the legislature did makesignificant new investments in education (preschool through higher ed) but did not do all it could have to restore the $1 billion we owe our students?

Grassroots made a substantial impact on funding and a critical difference for students this year. When the session started, the conventional wisdom was that there would be no effort to reverse education cuts – that keeping up with inflation was the most we should expect.

But students fared a whole lot better than that. The final package included:

$110 million reduction in the negative factor – that is the $1 billion gap between what we’re spending on schools this year and the amount that voters promised our students when they passed Amendment 23 fourteen years ago (see graph below)

$17 million increase for early childhood education (preschool or full-day K) — enough for about 5,000 slots

$27 million increase for English Language Learners

$18 million increase for the “READ” (early literacy) Act

$13 million increase for charter school capital facilities

$3 million additional for Counselor Corps

$1.6 million additional funding for Gifted and Talented

$100 million increase for higher education.

But there were disappointments, as well. Opportunities were left on the table and students will continue to pay the price.

Legislators could have made larger reduction in the negative factor, which remains at $900 million leaving per pupil funding more than $1,000 lower than it was five years ago, after adjusting for inflation. Legislators chose maintaining large reserves (more than $1.3 billion between the statutory reserve and the State Education Fund) over maximizing investment in the next generation – the equivalent of “stuffing money under the mattress.”

The “Surplus for Kids” amendment did not make it into the final School Finance Act. We had hoped that the legislature would pass this amendment to signal a continued commitment to further reversing cuts next year. Because they didn’t, our work is cut out for us next year.

Despite the recovering revenues, the legislature did not find even a modest revenue stream to expand the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) program which has replaced and renovated hundreds of crumbling buildings around the state.

So what’s next? How can we make sure that 2015 is a year of further growth — rather than a year when the legislature feels it can “rest on the laurels” of the 2014 session.

That we can tell you in one word:

URGENCY.

Those who are connected to schools know that the need to get it right for students is immediate. Miss an intervention, a summer school class, an individualized learning plan this year, and the student pays the price for years to come. This year’s citizen-advocates knew that and conveyed it through their Capitol visits and the stories they submitted to the Joint Budget Committee.

Among most legislators, though, that sense of urgency was missing this year.

That’s the focus of our work for the next eight months. Engaging legislators during the session was critical and successful. But engaging with them in between legislative sessions may be even more important. We need to bring them into our schools and give them the opportunity to see first-hand the successes our schools have accomplished and the challenges our students face. They need to understand the realities of budget shortfalls by seeing and hearing about them through the eyes of parents, teachers and students.

School tours. “Take Your Legislator to School Day.” Coffees, townhalls, and continued conversations between constituents and legislatures. That’s the next frontier.

The blue bars above above represent actual per-pupil spending in Colorado. The additional red bars show what per-pupil spending should be in order to keep the promise Colorado voters made when they passed Amendment 23 in 2000 (i.e., per pupil funding had kept up with inflation).

When this session began, the conventional wisdom was that there would be no effort to reverse education cuts – that keeping up with inflation was the most we should expect. We knew then that it had to be “grassroots to the rescue” of Colorado’s students.

105 of you – parents, teachers, community members, school board members, school administrators, and students, all grassroots advocates – showed up at the State Capitol urging your legislators to do the right thing: to reinvest in Colorado’s students;

37 (of 65) members of the House and 19 (of 35) members of the Senate engaged with you in face-to-face meetings at the Capitol;

In all, 82 face-to-face conversations were had with state leaders at the Capitol. Countless other conversations were held at town halls, coffees, conferences, and meetings in local communities;

1,687 of you signed our petition, urging the powerful Joint Budget Committee (JBC) to be bold, push the envelope, and invest in kids now, before it’s too late;

854 of you sent nearly 1,700 emails to state leaders, flooding their inboxes with an urgent message: do right by kids.

70% of the legislators you spoke to signed our statement, giving proof that your engagement matters

And finally, 39 legislators – more than a third of Colorado’s General Assembly – signed our statement declaring their support to strengthen Colorado’s public education system by reducing the negative factor.

In the end, your voices were heard and progress was made. You can see our advocates in action at the Capitol here or in our gallery below. Because of your advocacy:

$110M will be reinvested in Colorado’s students across the state next year and for years to come;

More students will have access to a great start through preschool or full-day kindergarten;

Student populations that need additional support, English Language Learners and Gifted & Talented students for example, will receive greater assistance and support through additional funding.

Though we didn’t accomplish everything we set out to do – there’s still a long way to go — we are most thankful for the unprecedented level of involvement that took place across our state during this legislative session.

Never has Great Ed assembled this level of direct grassroots advocacy at the Capitol. And we’re just getting started. We’ll be back next year – bigger and stronger – to continue our work ensuring that Colorado’s kids have a voice under the Gold Dome.

In the meantime, we’ll be working throughout the summer and fall in local communities to continue our grassroots advocacy with legislators during the “off season.” We’re forming local teams of parents, community members, school administrators and teachers, key business leaders, and elected officials, to continue the conversations at the local level. If you’re interested in getting involved in or initiating a community team, let us know.

With your help, Great Ed will keep bringing people and communities together to ensure that every student, no matter where they live, how they learn or what their background, has the opportunity to get a great education that enables them to be engaged, successful adults.

]]>http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/05/open-letter-public-education-supporters/feed/0First Take: What Happened on School Finance?http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/05/what-happened-school-finance/
http://www.greateducation.org/news/2014/05/what-happened-school-finance/#commentsThu, 08 May 2014 19:44:23 +0000http://www.greateducation.org/?p=4461It took until the last day of the session, but the legislature has finally made its decisions on funding for the 2014-15 school year. We’ll provide further analysis when the ink has dried next week; for now, just the facts (and just a little commentary).

This year was marked by unprecedented engagement by public education supporters. Not only were the superintendents virtually unanimous in their advocacy for significant reversal of the negative factor, but Great Ed supporters made their voices heard loud, clear and effectively in the Capitol. Grassrootsmade a substantial impact on funding and a critical difference for students. (More on that next week).

So here’s what happened:

$110 million reduction of the negative factor. (The conventional wisdom at the beginning of the session was that there would be no reduction in the $1 billion amount of the negative factor.)

$17 million increase for early childhood education (preschool or full-day K).

$27 million increase for English Language Learners.

$18 million increase for the “READ” (early literacy) Act.

$13 million increase for charter school capital facilities.

$3 million additional for Counselor Corps.

$1.6 million additional funding for Gifted and Talented.

$100 million increase for higher education.

Here’s what didn’t happen:

A larger reduction in the negative factor. Rather than invest more in students, the legislature chose to maintain large reserves.

The “Surplus for Kids” amendment did not make it into the final School Finance Act. We had hoped that the legislature would pass this amendment to signal a continued commitment to further reversing cuts next year. Because they didn’t, our work is cut out for us next year.

Despite the recovering revenues, the legislature did not find even a modest revenue stream to expand the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) program which has replaced and renovated hundreds of crumbling buildings around the state.

The blue bars above above represent actual per-pupil spending in Colorado. The additional red bars show what per-pupil spending should be had Colorado kept the promise it made with Amendment 23 and spending had kept up with inflation.